In Payday’s world, SWAT teams respond instantaneously to blown heist attempts. They pile into banks and museums with licence to shoot on sight, and then they pile up in hallways as you and your team of super-thieves gun them down while shuttling riches into a getaway vehicle. You can play Payday 3 like that, but I prefer the harder stealth approach, and my team and I came so close to pulling it off before I blew it.
Payday 3 doesn’t stray far from the decade-old Payday 2. The co-op levels I previewed saw me and three heist-mates case a building, find a way in (front door, guns out is an option), and then complete a series of semirandomised tasks to locate and remove its valuables. In Secure Capital Bank, the loud way into the vault involves collecting bags of thermite from the roof and burning a hole through the second floor. The quiet method is much more complicated, and includes the classic heist movie move of sticking a bank executive’s face into a retinal scanner. That was the last thing I did before everything went sideways.
My team of thieves was made up of Payday novices, including me, and one Starbreeze developer who patiently tried to show us Payday 3’s deeper stealth system. Two stealth attempts ended because another player accidentally threw a grenade, one of the loudest things a person can accidentally do. One ended because a civilian spotted us climbing a fire escape and called the cops. Twice in a museum level I crossed a laser beam while trying to turn off the security system. And one time a guard caught me trying to pick a lock in the lobby of the bank and cuffed me.
YOU CAN’T BE HERE
Denne historien er fra September 2023-utgaven av PC Gamer.
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Denne historien er fra September 2023-utgaven av PC Gamer.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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SUNDOWNER
Wipe out a cult with one bullet in CHILDREN OF THE SUN
KENWAY AHEAD
Smooth sailing and pearly whites in ASSASSIN'S CREED IV BLACK FLAG
COUNTER INTUITIVE
PICK & POKE your way through this gorgeous tabletop roguelite
DOUBLE TROUBLE
Whatever happened to MULTI-GPU setups?
MICROPHONES
A good microphone can be the difference between a professional sounding triumph, or a crackly, tinny disaster
BORING PLATFORMER
In a good way! The superb drilling of PEPPER GRINDER is sublimely chaotic
MEIER'S BASTARDISATION
MILLENNIA attempts a spirited but messy coup to Civ's throne
LOOSE MORALS
BROKEN ROADS: a cerebral narrative adventure
CROWN WARS: THE BLACK PRINCE
Tactical medieval combat with a gory edge
NO REST FOR THE WICKED
One of the smartest Soulslikes I've played in a long time